Summer Epic Read

There is nothing like a summer epic read.

You know the kind.  Novels that unroll themselves and take you down a pathway of adventure and enclose you in a world so tight that you forget the sun shining outside or the waves licking your toes while you lay on the beach.

The first adult epic novel I read as a junior higher was, The Thorn Birds Not only did it take me on an adventure to Australia and expose me to a continent I did not know anything about yet, but it also swept me into the adult world of complex relationships, forbidden love and the mysteries of the Catholic church.  I did not understand everything I that was going on but was still enthralled.

I decided to reread "The Thorn Birds" this summer after finding the book in a $1 used book store.  The book was like the paperback I read so long ago, over and over, until it fell apart.  I was immediately swept back to Australia in my mind and it was fun to reread parts that I didn't understand as a child and now could comprehend the characters problems with the clarity of adulthood.

As summer is winding down I am reading The Russian Concubine   I was not sure when I started if I would like this book or not but have been pleasantly surprised by it.  The story of a group of ex pats trying to survive in China at the turn of the century with the threats of the communists breathing hard on them has some pretty tight plot turns.  I have about fifty more pages to go and am rushing through this post because I want to get back to it and finish today.

What is your favorite epic summer read?